A hospital may have different departments such as radiology, cardiology, and oncology. The work done by physicians and their staff in these departments differs according to the kind of department. Since software has to support that work, up to now for each kind of hospital department specific software packages are provided. They may have been provided by different provider firms such that they are possibly incompatible one with another. The manner how to use the software may differ from one department to another, for example different commands may have to be input in similar situations, therefore for staff working in different departments, the handling of the software would prove to be difficult. Moreover, the software packages for each department has to be stored for example on a particular server in the department, taking storage place which has to be obtained at high costs. The software has be installed and regularly updated, such that particular IT personnel has to be installed and regularly updated, and further such that particular IT personnel is needed for each department.
Despite different work being done by the physicians in different departments of a hospital, some departments have also in common that particular steps have to be performed. For example in many departments, if not in each department, the physician has to deal with images. These have to be stored and administrated, they have to be viewed and perhaps commented on in a particular comment file. Also, all departments of a hospital have in common that patient data have to be administrated. When providing software packages, each performing similar steps such as supporting storing and viewing of images and administrating of patient data, resources and time are wasted by not using synergies.
This is especially the case for the use of imaging systems, so-called “modalities”: Similar imaging systems may be used by different departments. Imaging systems may be computer tomographs, magnetic resonance imaging systems, angiography systems, molecular imaging systems, ultrasound systems etc. A need for use of synergies may both arise, if different departments are provided with similar imaging systems each, and if different departments use a particular imaging system in common. In both cases, the software must be able to deal with the imaging systems, for example from a work station being placed in a particular department. A difficulty resides in that for each department different modalities may be used in different situations. In the radiology for example an x-ray imaging system might be in use for inspection of the bones of a patient for being able to detect fractures etc. In the cardiology, however, such x-ray system might be in use basically for viewing the heart of a patient. Therefore, the different departments cannot simply use all the same software. Particular software is needed for particular situations, which might come up in particular departments.
What has been the above for imaging systems, is also true for the administration of patient data. Here, on the one hand, it is desirable to centralize a task of administrating patient data, for example to write all information about a single patient obtained in different departments into a single file. However, different kinds of departments in hospital need different kinds of reports. The software has to support the physicians in a manner tailor-made for the particular department, when the physician is writing a report on the patient books.